Looking for analysis

[chardrian]

I was playing my normal good game. We are now down to ~ 70 players (90 got paid). Blinds just went up so we have about 15 minutes left at this level.

Game #1076653752 - Tournament $60,000 R&A - 3,000/6,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/11/07-23:50:27.1 (CST)
Table "$60,000 R&A 59" (MTT) -- Seat 10 is the button
Seat 2: Run Screamin (66,160 in chips)
Seat 3: BamaEd (56,552 in chips)
Seat 4: BigHog1 (39,737 in chips)
Seat 5: jpfiber (81,382 in chips)
Seat 6: Mr.Rass (118,223 in chips)
Seat 7: redbuyme (13,254 in chips)
Seat 8: 1402jak (39,870 in chips)
Seat 9: fit582 (18,714 in chips)
Seat 10: chardrian (53,771 in chips)
BamaEd : Ante (300)
BigHog1 : Ante (300)
jpfiber : Ante (300)
Mr.Rass : Ante (300)
redbuyme: Ante (300)
1402jak : Ante (300)
fit582 : Ante (300)
chardrian: Ante (300)
Run Screamin: Ante (300)
Run Screamin: Post Small Blind (3,000)
BamaEd : Post Big Blind (6,000)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Ac ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Kh ]
BigHog1 : Fold
jpfiber : Fold
Mr.Rass : Call (6,000)
redbuyme: Fold
1402jak : Fold
fit582 : Fold
chardrian: Raise (23,000)
Run Screamin: Fold
BamaEd : Fold
Mr.Rass : Call (17,000)
*** FLOP *** : [ 7d 9d 2c ]
Mr.Rass : Bet (16,000)
chardrian ???

70% of me felt that I was good here... Mr.Rass called only to make a play on the flop. 30% felt I might be chasing anywhere from 3 to 6 outs.

What's the play? Should I have just pushed preflop there or was it smart to leave some ammo just in case?

[dthorne04]

Push pre flop.

[lamaros]

Ugly position to be in.

I push it preflop or try and get in cheaper, I think. What does this guy play from there?

[chardrian]

I'm not real upset about not pushing preflop there (that's more results oriented than anything).

What about the flop though? Anyone find a call there?

[gabe]

always push preflop so you want be left with those flop decisions. thats the point.

[chardrian]

I think that's a cop-out gabe. This is the point of a tourney where I think "M" stops becoming as important as people think it is. My M was less than 10 but I was in the top 30 in chips. I'm not trying to say a push is bad there - in fact it's a good, standard play. But if the goal is to not make decisions on the flop, then u should push AK every single time u get it regardless of chip stacks. If I can suck a guy into playing A7s by just raising there but he would fold if I pushed, well then my raise was perfect. I guess what I am saying is that I'd rather more than double up with AK at this stage than (possibly) increase my stack to 70k by pushing and still be basically relegated to push fold poker.

I dunno - I definitely wish I had just pushed preflop now. But I'm still not convinced that's not just results oriented.

[ender555]

my guess is he has a low pair or a draw, if you're going to raise half your stack with ak, i think you're more than comitted. i agree with gabe however, i would just move in preflop, or riase till i was definitely comitted like 30k.

late tourny isn't when u wanna get cute and play flops.

[lamaros]

I believe gabe doesn't mean you have to push AKo all the time, regardless of other factors, but you do have to in situations like this.

You've got less than 10bbs. You're 5th biggest stack on the table. If you're going to put 2/5ths of your stack in, you might as well throw the lot in. If you give it away on the flop you're most certainly in the 'AI or fold' stage of the game, and your odds of getting a better hand than AK to do it probably aren't that swell. So do it now.

Otherwise limp in and try to catch a flop. Not that recomended, but it's better throwing in 6k and trying to get lucky than putting in 23 and getting stuck in no man's land.

[Tommydx]

Why is everyone so little in chips? Would've hated to be in the tourney if there were no rebuys or add-ons, sheesh.

[Sed]

I would guess he has AdXd and with the semi-bluff bet he now has odds to call your push...

[chardrian]

I understand everything behind the push preflop there. I agree it is a good/correct play. But it's also standard. Sometiems I get screwed by trying to do things "outside the box," but sometimes that's what you have to do to take down a sizeable pot. Mr. Rass had gotten his big stack by limping and calling a decent size preflop raise when he had A5s and the flop came A5x, knocking the guy with AQ out. On that flop he overbet it first to act with 2 pair. Which is why I think I might very well have been good here. The part I am most angry with myself over is that I made this "outside the box" play without a better read - and I know better than to do that. Without a read, standard plays are the way to go - I shoulda pushed preflop.

[chardrian]

Why is everyone so little in chips? Would've hated to be in the tourney if there were no rebuys or add-ons, sheesh.

Everyone is so low in chips because this is a Paradise tourney. I think you get less hands an hour at Dise than other sites and they have a huge blind jump from 600/1.2k to 1k/2k during the third hour which in effect drastically brings down 80% of the fields "M" and makes the tourney much more of a preflop game rather than postflop. PokerStars used to have the exact same blind structure but has recently added an 800/1.6k level which has, IMO, lenghtened their tourneys considerably. But I also know this beforehand, and wouldn't play if I thought it was a pure luck fest.